Get Music of Nebraska essential facts below, , or join the Music of Nebraska discussion. Add Music of Nebraska to your PopFlock.com topic list for future reference or share this resource on social media.

Music of Nebraska

The Music of Nebraska has included a variety of country, jazz, blues, ragtime, rock and alternative rock musicians. Several towns across the state have active musical venues, with several communities having a particularly important musical legacy.

Other related aspects of the Omaha sound include various alternative bands. The alternative music scene has produced such popular artists as 311, Beaver & the Hottage Cutch, Betsy Wells and Grasshopper Takeover, and Omaha has been a temporary home base of Midwest bands such as Tilly and the Wall, Rilo Kiley, The Urge, Pomeroy, and Blue October. Tim McMahan's Lazy-i and SLAMOmaha.com are the main media outlets promoting Saddle Creek and other Omaha bands.

In Omaha, a mainstay of the music scene is Nils Anders Erickson. The studio houses modern equipment and has recorded with artists with local connections such as 311, but what makes the studio famous is its collection of vintage equipment. On top of the studio, Nils heads local jam band Paddy O'Furniture. Other mainstays of the music scene in Omaha include folk artists such as Simon Joyner, Kyle Knapp, and his son, Saddle Creek artist Joe Knapp, Joe Watson, Mike Murphy, Kevin Quinn, and electronic artists Peter None and Chip Davis.

For over a decade Terry O'Halloran and the Omaha Blues Society have brought world class blues to Omaha. Within the past five years Omaha has grown to love local favorites Satchel Grande, Kris Lager Band, and Funk Trek. Their predecessors Electric Soul Method and Polydypsia helped set the stage for this music to grow in Omaha.

North Omaha

From the 1920s through the early 1960s North Omaha boasted a vibrant entertainment district featuring African American music. The main artery of North 24th Street was the heart of the city's African-American cultural and business community with a thriving jazz and rhythm and blues scene that attracted top-flight swing, blues and jazz bands from across the country.

The most important venue was the storied Dreamland Ballroom, which was opened in the Jewell Building in 1923 at 24th and Grant Streets in the Near North Side neighborhood. Dreamland hosted some of the greatest jazz, blues, and swing performers, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, and the original Nat King Cole Trio. Whitney Young spoke there as well.[1] Other venues included Jim Bell's Harlem, opened in 1935 on Lake Street, west of 24th; McGill's Blue Room, located at 24th and Lake, and Allen's Showcase Lounge, which was located at 24th and Lake. Due to racial segregation, musicians such as Cab Calloway stayed at Myrtle Washington's at 22nd and Willis while others stayed at Charlie Trimble's at 22nd and Seward. The intersection of 24th and Lake was the setting of the Big Joe Williams song "Omaha Blues".

Notable North Omaha musicians

"

North Omaha used to be a hub for black jazz musicians, 'the triple-A league' where national bands would go to find a player to fill out their ensemble. - Preston Love[2]

North Omaha's musical culture also birthed several nationally and internationally reputable African American musicians. Preston Love and drummer Buddy Miles were friends while growing up. They collaborated throughout their lives, and while they were playing with the greatest names in rock and roll, Jjazz, R&B, and funk. Big Joe Williams and funk band leader Lester Abrams are also from North Omaha. Omaha-born Wynonie Harris, one of the founders of rock and roll, got his start at the North Omaha clubs and for a time lived in the now demolished Logan Fontennelle projects at 2213 Charles Street.[4]

The Zoo Bar is a blues music venue and nightclub located in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska on 136 North 14th Street.[1] Styled around the Chicago blues clubs, it is a long, narrow venue in a building built in 1921.

Around 1971, Jim Ludwig, Bill Kennedy and Don Chamberlin purchased the bar.[2] Larry Boehmer, a Master of Fine Arts student at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln at the time, promoted the bar to his fellow artists. He booked the first band in 1973 and was sole owner by 1977.[2]

Boehmer met Chicago musician and promoter Bob Riedy and formed a connection that brought many revered Chicago artists to the Lincoln club. Because of this connection, the Zoo Bar was the first white club that Magic Slim ever played. In 1975, he'd never ventured outside the clubs in Chicago's African-American neighborhoods.[2]

In 1977, Boehmer was the sole owner and the Zoo was established as an important stop for bands on the touring circuit.[2]

The first band Boehmer booked to play in the club was The Cotton Blues Band in the summer of 1973.[2]

The first national act to play at the bar was Luther Allison in September 1974.[2]